Ouija: Origin of Evil, My Little Pony: The Movie and the upcoming Transformer spin-off movie Bumblebee all have something in common: they're based on Hasbro properties. Now the Hasbro film universe is looking to expand further.
Paramount is teaming with director F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, above with Charlize Theron) and Hasbro to bring M.A.S.K. to the big screen, according to Deadline. What does this mean for the Hasbro film universe? Why is Gray a great pick to kick things off?
First, what is M.A.S.K.?
Not to be confused with Eric Stolz's Mask or Jim Carrey's The Mask, M.A.S.K. originated in 1985 as a toy franchise. An animated TV series was launched soon after the toy line was introduced, followed by comics and video games.
The original M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) action figures were designed as crimefighters who faced off against a criminal organization known as V.E.N.O.M. Led by Matt "Hunter/Cowboy" Trakker, a wealthy philanthropist, the team includes his adopted son Scott, Scott's robot sidekick T-Bob, and Japanese-American mechanical engineer Bruce "Magic" Sato. M.A.S.K. also features cars and trucks that can transform into weaponized vehicles.
Per Deadline's report, the film will be drawn from both the animated figures and the animated series, which offers a lot of characters, vehicles and possible scenarios for multiple installments.
Why is F. Gary Gray a great pick to kick things off?
Coming off the twin successes of Straight Outta Compton and The Fate of the Furious, Gray is white-hot right now. He is currently in pre-production on a reboot of the Men in Black series, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson and scheduled for release on May 17, 2019.
Reportedly, Gray liked the idea that M.A.S.K. is "a vintage property that could be revamped and have something to say to a contemporary audience." The filmmaker made his feature debut back in 1995 with the comic drama Friday, following that up with the action-crime thrillers Set It Off and The Negotiator. He also made a modern version of The Italian Job, which included incredibly wild sequences of automotive mayhem.
Combining his skills at action direction with socially-conscious drama certainly sounds promising and could make future M.A.S.K. films distinctive from other big-bang action movies.
What is the next step?
A writer will be hired to craft a screenplay that builds on the ideas mentioned by Gray and fleshes out a new world, one that has the potential for a franchise. Hasbro has been developing the idea of a distinctive universe for their films for a while now; we can look at the G.I. Joe and Transformers series to get an idea of how things could develop in the future for what sounds like an exciting new action-adventure.
